Share This Story!

Teen finds academic success at college

Jennifer Jin doesn't think she's exceptional. Her father, Yijun Jin, doesn't think so either. But the teen isn't like most her age. That's because Jennifer is a junior at Viriginia's Mary Baldwin College — on track to graduate next year.

Jennifer Jin doesn't think she's exceptional. Her father, Yijun Jin, doesn't think so either. But the teen isn't like most her age. That's because Jennifer is a junior at Viriginia's Mary Baldwin College — on track to graduate next year.

Jennifer says anyone can go college at a young age.

"I took the opportunity to do something," she said. "I think a lot of students could benefit from that as well."

Jennifer, who is majoring in applied mathematics and minoring in chemistry and physics, also is interning for the Mayor's Summer Internship Program. She is assigned to Lucas Laboratory, where she tests and monitors water samples.

Jennifer was 14 when she started college, 15 for her junior year and just turned 16 this month. She didn't have college credit when she started but takes extra classes now — tending to carry 20 credit hours per semester.

She was named to the college's fall 2013 Honors List for students who earn between a 3.7 and a 4.0 grade point average. In April, Jennifer was awarded her college's Mary Jane Donnally Award, which is presented to the student athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average for three consecutive semesters.

Her father said Jennifer, a fan of indie-bands, is not a genius. "She's no different from any other kid her age," he said.

It also helps that Jennifer is very self-motivated and independent. Derinda Banks, a laboratory manager at Lucas Laboratory, said Jennifer always comes prepared and isn't afraid to ask questions.

"To just have some someone like her that's truly into the sciences that's just been great," Banks said.

Jennifer started out one year ahead of everyone in her elementary school class because she skipped first grade.

She started school in Indiana and remembers being good at reading, writing and spelling and math. She attended Forest Hill Elementary School in the third grade, Eden Gardens in fourth and fifth grade, and attended Caddo Middle Magnet.

"I got bored with being the best. I kind of wanted a challenge," she said. "I wanted more of a challenge and for it to be difficult so I could actually feel it was an accomplishment."

She was 12 when she entered ninth grade at Caddo Magnet High School and still found school to be stifling.

Jennifer was bored. There was not enough flexibility in the traditional education curriculum, she said.

"I wasn't just happy with the high school so I wanted to kind of branch out and go somewhere to study and learn what I wanted to — to focus on things that I was interested in," Jennifer said.

She enrolled in the Program for the Exceptional Gifted at Mary Baldwin College, which allows gifted young women who are emotionally responsible to enroll as full-time students.

Jennifer and her classmates in the program are mixed into classes with the general student population. They don't wear name tags or uniforms that make them identifiable or receive special attention. They do live in a separate dorm and have a curfew.

"I have a lot of friends in my classes who are basically like 18 and above," said Jennifer, who also started running cross-country track as a college freshman and wants to be an engineer.

Still, she admits people are a little bit "weirded out" when they first discover her youthfulness.

"Then they realize, 'Hey, you know, they're just students just like us. They don't have anything special or like the program will do the work for us.' No, we have to do the work still. We have the exact same work as everyone else," she said.

Jennifer said she sets goals and works hard to meet them. "I'm a little bit of a perfectionist in that I want to do everything well," she said.

Yijun Jin wasn't afraid to let his daughter branch out at such a young age. "Sixteen is not such a tender young age," he said. "We still tend to think of them as a kids. How old was Joan of Arc? 16."

Yijun Jin, an instructor at LSU Health Shreveport, said the traditional school system isn't academically flexible and doesn't allow ambitious students to freely pursue advanced coursework or work ahead of the curriculum.

"We looked high and low to find some program to accommodate our two girls, but we could find nothing in Louisiana or the South, for that matter, so I would say Jennifer could not be the only good student right here (in Shreveport-Bossier City)," he said. Jennifer has a younger sister, Caroline Jin, who is 13 and will attend Caddo Magnet High School this fall.

Louisiana has many talented students who could do what Jennifer is doing, he said.

"Students are so individualized," he said. "I would challenge a school system to actually accommodate (them) — maybe a little bit different with students, to give them a chance, to have their potential to be realized."

Yijun Jin, who models his owns teaching methods after what he wanted as student, said he always challenges his students to look beyond what is expected of them.

Jennifer said her father taught her to think outside of the box and do things unconventionally. College has taught her to be sensitive to social injustices and she wants to be an environmental engineer working in the alternative energy field.

Addressing energy needs is critical, Jennifer said, who wants to have an impact on her world.

"It's one of the biggest problems that our world is facing right now," she said. "I don't want to be passive about what's going to come in the future. I want to be an active shaper of my destiny."